US Open Friday

Proudly displayed above the Tiki Bar at PDX

I'm finally a cognizant human being again! I've spent the first half of this week recovering from the US Open of Mountain Biking in Vernon New Jersey. I work 40 hours a week as a mechanical engineer and squeeze racing into my weekends. This was a special race, as I managed to take a WHOLE day off of work to head to the east coast for the race. I worked a day shift on Thursday before driving to Sea Tac. My plan was to red-eye to NJ Thursday night and be prepared for practice Friday morning at 8:30am.  My flight left Seattle at 6:30 pm and made a stop in Portland before heading to Newark. I arrived without incident at 5:30am and found my shuttle to Diablo Freeride Park. I love stereotypes, and my shuttle driver could not have been more of a stereotype. He had a thick New York accent and after asking me where I'm from, started telling me how Seattle was a horrible place.

The "Short Bus" of airplanes

Anyways, he got me to the venue and I started building my bike. I had managed to sleep for about 2 hours on the flight before having to ride my bike at a high rate of speed down a hill covered in rocks, trees, and jumps. Thanks to the New Jersey Diamondback sales rep, Chris Budich, I was already registered. He even left a stand and a pump to so I could set my bike up. I finished building my bike right as Charlie Sponsel and Lars Sternberg from Transition rolled up. I decided to take my bike up the lift while Charlie did a course walk.

It came off the plane this way. Thanks TSA!

Charlie and I slowly made our way down the hill looking at the different sections. I had seen helmet cams of the course and photos, but it was much steeper and rougher in person. I really enjoy riding courses like this so I was starting to get excited. I took a few practice runs before practice ended for the day at 12:30. The temperature was really hot and unbelievable humid. It was so humid that my phone wouldn't register my finger on the touch screen due to the moisture in the air!

I dropped my fork off at Fox for some much needed loving and ended up heading back to the hotel in the afternoon to catch up on some sleep. I slept for a few hours before returning to the venue. Kelly Mcgarry and Eric Porter had shown up and were doing the slalom qualifying. Kelly managed to make the cut for the finals and would be racing the next day. I decided not to do the slalom as I was running on lack of sleep already and didn't need to add anymore physical activities to my weekend.

New seals and new lowers! Thanks Fox!

After securing the pit for the night, we headed to Aaron Chase’s house for a BBQ. It was a really low key get-together, but I got to ride the bike swing. Basically, it’s a rope swing you attach yourself to that is low enough so you are able to take a few pedal strokes while on the ground. After getting the hang of using it, Kelly and I were having a mini contest to try and land 540’s. We also got to see Aaron’s basement skate park. His house has an unfinished basement that has evolved from a mini ramp into a mini skate park. The ramps were really tight, but Chase was ridding them with ease. Kelly, Porter, and I all gave it a go. It was fun to ride a hardtail again. I need to do it more often. We grabbed some food and headed back to the hotel for a late night swim followed by a stop at the Tiki Bar. A few drinks with the locals and we headed off to bed.